The Nambucca venue in London has announced today that it will soon be closing. The venue is well known for its support of new acts, having the likes of The Libertines, Frank Turner and Florence & The Machine grace their grounds at some point. It’s sad news for live music, which has been put through a tough time as of late. Although there are signs of things improving, there’s still a lot of anger towards venues like Nambucca closing at the moment.
Music Venue Trust released a statement blaming the state of affairs on the ownership of music venues, noting that it’s not typically in the hands of people who actually seem to care about music.
“Everything we deal with eventually comes back to the same core problem. That problem is ownership …. All the other problems and challenges that grassroots music venues face eventually come back to this core point: No grassroots music venue in the UK is sustainable or resilient, no venue can have 100% confidence in its future, no venue can continue to support musicians and bring music to our communities for decades to come, unless the music venues are owned by people who want them to be music venues.”
MVT Statement on the Closure and Permanent Loss of @Nambucca_Live #THREAD
The possible loss of the iconic Nambucca grassroots music venue, which faces permanent closure on 14 May, is a terrible blow to Giles and the incredible team there.. pic.twitter.com/sErz2nduZA— Music Venue Trust (@musicvenuetrust) April 26, 2022
Nambucca is due to close on May 14th, and has already received a good bit of support on social media, with Frank Turner tweeting that the news “hurts my heart”.
This hurts my heart. https://t.co/sP2WzFDRm0 — Frank Turner (@frankturner) April 26, 2022
The venue’s own statement notes that they’d “tried everything we can to keep Nambucca going, but the reality of the past few years have made it untenable, what with mounting bills coming from every direction.” However, they still plan to “go out with a bang!” through the remaining weeks they have left, asking people to keep an eye on their socials for any future events.
Nambucca isn’t the only music venue closing though. You can read here about The Leadmill in Sheffield, whose closing announcements brought waves of support in the industry, with the likes of Arctic Monkeys coming to their aid on social media.
Some have tried to address the problem of ownership that Music Venue Trust brought up. Having been boarded up four years ago, there have been attempts to bring back The Ravensbourne Arms pub in London as a live music venue owned by the community. The efforts have been supported by big names, including Jools Holland and Fontaines D.C., and it hopes to build a “safe, inclusive, all-day space that puts the local community – the entire community, in all its glorious forms – at the heart of everything they do.”
Meanwhile, if you fancy visiting Nambucca for the last time before it’s gone, you can follow them on social media here to see what surprises they have in store just before the end.
